Hanford contractor report card worth $14M

Hanford contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. has been awarded $14 million in incentive pay for fiscal 2016, the Department of Energy said Monday.

The contractor, which is responsible for much of the Hanford nuclear reservation cleanup except the site’s tank farms, could have received a maximum of $15.4 million for the year that ended in September 2016.

It received 92 percent of the incentive pay available compared to 95 percent in the previous year, fiscal 2015. The company’s costs for performing work are paid by DOE.

The information DOE released Monday for CH2M was the last of the incentive pay figures to be released for Hanford environmental cleanup contractors for fiscal 2016.

CH2M, which employs 1,670 workers, lost some pay when it failed to complete three of 27 projects on time.

▪  It did not complete the design for the construction of a new roof for the aging REDOX processing plant.

▪  It had not received a dozen containers for storing radioactive sludge, which will be moved from the K West Basin near the Columbia River to central Hanford.

▪  It did not complete a ventilation and stabilization project to prepare to move capsules of radioactive strontium and cesium from underwater storage to dry storage.

CH2M has since completed the three projects, including not only designing the new REDOX roof, but installing it to keep the building intact until it can be cleaned up, according to CH2M.

The company received nearly $11.6 million for specific work done out of nearly $12.6 million available.

CH2M completed one project two years ahead of time in fiscal 2016, and received $625,000 in incentive pay early for it. It was required to dispose of buildings and ancillary equipment no longer needed for its continuing and expanded groundwater treatment system.

DOE also awarded the company about $1.9 million out of about $2.2 million available in an additional subjective review of CH2M’s performance. It received 87 percent of the money available in the category.

DOE said only that CH2M “was very responsive” to DOE’s needs, in the summary of the payment determination it released Monday.

Ty Blackford, CH2M chief executive at Hanford, said that the contractor had continued to reduce risks at Hanford in fiscal 2016.

It cleaned 180,000 pounds of contaminants from groundwater, completed procurement needed to move the K Basin radioactive sludge farther from the river and made final preparations to begin demolishing the highly contaminated Plutonium Finishing Plant.

It also stabilized old radioactive contamination in the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, where the radioactive cesium and strontium capsules are kept now, Blackford said.

“We look forward to safely advancing risk reduction across (central Hanford) during the remaining contract period,” he said. CH2M has a 10-year contract for DOE that expires in September 2018.

By then CH2M expects to finish demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, start to move K Basin sludge away from the Columbia River and dig up the contaminated soil from a highly radioactive spill beneath the 324 Building near Richland, he said. It also will continue to boost its capabilities to treat contaminated groundwater.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Hanford contractor report card worth $14M."